Fritz Thiedemann

Fritz Thiedemann around 1957

Fritz Thiedemann (born March 3, 1918 in Weddinghusen near Heide ; † January 8, 2000 there ) was a German show jumper , farmer and entrepreneur .

Career

Fritz Thiedemann was born into a farming family, he was the youngest of nine children and initially received simple riding lessons on the horses kept for agricultural purposes. The first tournament participation followed. Thiedemann completed his further equestrian training first in the cavalry school in Hanover , later with its relocation then in the army riding school in Potsdam-Krampnitz.

Thiedemann was a member of the SA and received his training mainly at the SA-Reichsreiterführer school in Düppel near Berlin. His trainer was Major Felix Bürkner . In 1938 he won the Deutschlandhalle prize at the Berlin spring tournament.

In 1950 he achieved the breakthrough in the German Jumping Derby in Hamburg in national competitions. Here he achieved the victory on the horse "Loretto". The following year he was also the winner on " Meteor ". In 1954 he won the King Georges V Gold Cup in London and received the trophy from Queen Elizabeth II.

Together with Hans Günter Winkler , Fritz Thiedemann was the outstanding German show jumper of the 1950s. At the Olympic Summer Games in Helsinki in 1952 he was the only rider in the world to be able to ride into the medal ranks in both show jumping and dressage: he won the bronze medal in show jumping and also a bronze medal with the German dressage team. In the individual ranking he achieved 12th place on "Chronicler" in dressage and 3rd place in show jumping.

At the Olympic Equestrian Games in Stockholm in 1956 he won the gold medal with the German team in show jumping. In the individual ranking, he took 4th place on "Meteor". He was then able to repeat the gold medal at the Games in Rome in 1960. Both at the separate equestrian games in 1956 and 1960 in Rome, he carried the German flag when the teams moved in during the opening ceremony. This makes him the only German athlete who appeared as the flag bearer at two Olympic opening ceremonies .

The name Fritz Thiedemann is closely connected to the world's most successful jumper at the time, Meteor , with whom he also won most of the titles. When the horse died on August 26, 1966, a memorial was placed in front of the State Chancellery in Kiel.

In 1961 Fritz Thiedemann ended his active sporting career, but remained closely connected to equestrian sports and horse breeding and passed on his many years of experience here. In 1974 he was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit for his services.

At the end of 1999 he fell ill with pneumonia and had to be hospitalized on December 16 for further treatment. Here he died on January 8, 2000 in the clinic in Heide.

honors and awards

Fritz-Thiedemann-Halle Elmshorn

In his hometown of Heide , a street is named after him, the Fritz-Thiedemann-Ring, which makes it possible to bypass the urban area. The city of Elmshorn granted him honorary citizenship in 1956 because of his services to the city and the riding and driving school there, where he worked for years. The auction and riding arena of the Association of Breeders of the Holstein Horse there, which was newly opened in 2005, is also named after Thiedemann. His horses are still present in Elmshorn today by naming the streets Meteorstraße, Finaleweg, Retinastraße and Diamantstraße.

In the course of his life he has received various awards: Thiedemann was the first athlete to receive the Silver Laurel Leaf from Theodor Heuss in June 1950 . Six years later he was made honorary citizenship of the city of Elmshorn.

In 1958 he was named Sportsman of the Year in the Federal Republic of Germany, and in 1961 he was awarded the Schleswig-Holstein sports plaque . In 1974 he was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit . In 2008 Fritz Thiedemann was inducted into the Hall of Fame of German Sports .

successes

• Olympic games
  • 1952 in Helsinki :
    • Show jumping: bronze medal single on meteor
    • Dressage: bronze medal team, individual ranking 12th on Chronicler xx
  • 1956 in Stockholm : Gold medal team, individual ranking 4th on Meteor
  • 1960 in Rome : Gold medal team, individual ranking 6th on Meteor
• World Championship
  • 1953 in Paris : silver medal singles on diamond
• European Championship :
  • 1958 in Aachen : Gold medal individual on Meteor
  • 1959 in Paris : bronze medal singles on Goodewind
• Further:
  • five times winner of the German Jumping Derby in Hamburg (1950 ( Loretto ), 1951 ( Meteor ), 1954 ( Diamond ), 1958 ( Final ) and 1959 ( Retina ))

Individual evidence

1. ^ Fritz Thiedemann: Uncomplicated and down-to-earth obituary in the Schleswig-Holstein magazine from October 10, 2000 on NDR.de
2. ^ ^{A b} Matthias Heidrich: Fritz Thiedemann - equestrian icon from Holstein on NDR.de
3. ^ Susanne Hennig, Werner Ernst: 100 years of horse breeding and equestrian sports in Germany . FN-Verl. of the German Equestrian Association Warendorf 2005, ISBN 3-88542-377-4 , p. 103.
4. ↑ It is the birthday of the "Meteor" monument. Retrieved January 4, 2012 . 
5. ↑ Munzinger Biography Archives 16/2000
6. ^ Aloys Behler: A piece from Meteor , Die Zeit , March 4, 1983
7. ↑ Das Silberne Lorbeerblatt , website of the Federal President / Federal President's Office
8. ^ Honorary citizen of Elmshorn
9. ↑ Prime Minister Heide Simonis pays tribute to Fritz Thiedemann's great services. (No longer available online.) In: schleswig-holstein.de. January 10, 2000, formerly in the original ; Retrieved May 18, 2013 .  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  
10. ↑ The great Fritz Thiedemann died eleven years ago , Dieter Ludwig, January 3, 2011
11. ^ Portrait, dates and biography of Fritz Thiedemann in the Hall of Fame of German Sports

literature

• Eckhard F. Schröter: The happiness of this earth. Life and career of German show jumpers. Fischer-Taschenbuch-Verlag, Frankfurt a. M. 1980, ISBN 3-596-23019-5
• Susanne Hennig, Werner Ernst: 100 years of horse breeding and equestrian sports in Germany . FN-Verl. of the German Equestrian Association Warendorf 2005, ISBN 3-88542-377-4 .

Web links

Commons : Fritz Thiedemann  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Literature by and about Fritz Thiedemann in the catalog of the German National Library
• Portrait, dates and biography of Fritz Thiedemann in the Hall of Fame of German Sports
• Matthias Heidrich: Fritz Thiedemann - equestrian icon from Holstein. September 17, 2010 (portrait on NRD.de).